Never Judge

Ian sighed as he watched Cedric walk away, he knew that their words at least made a dent. Cedric didn't outright reject their pleas for him to return.

"Do you think he will come back?" Dave asked Ian.

"Only Cedric can decide that, and honestly, we don't know what's going on in his head." Ian said as he took out a cigarette and lit it.

"I thought you dropped that habit?" Camilla asked Ian with a raised eyebrow.

Ian smiled and laughed.

"I did, but I smoke once in a while, when I'm stressed." Ian said with a shrug. "I can't exactly have alcohol right now, so might as well just smoke."

"You and your vices." Leon said, shaking his head. 

"Right, and you are so clean." Ian said, rolling his eyes at Leon.

"Leon has a vice?" Dave asked as he snickered. 

"He did." Camilla teased.

"Yeah, I had to go to a gambling den to drag him out." Ian said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Well I was depressed and had no one to turn to." Leon said defensively.

"How dark did this time have to be to get the great Leon to break?" Mae teased, they knew Leon to be a well trained and disciplined man, not some gambler. 

"It was right before I started working as Cedric's bodyguard." Leon said with a shrug. "That's how I first met Ian and started working for the Reyes Group."

"You met gambling?" Dave asked with a laugh. "You, the two of you? The two stiffs?" 

"Are you seriously calling them stiffs now?" Mae said, rolling her eyes at Dave.

"We were different people back then." Ian said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, you were full of anger." Camilla teased.

"He still is." Leon said with a laugh. "He just hides it better now."

"We should get going." Ian said, shaking his head. "I still have to deal with the king of the underworld and my naughty wife."

"She would shout at you if she heard that you were calling her your wife already." Camilla teased. 

"She will be." Ian said with a knowing grin as he walked away and hopped into Dave's car. "Camilla will drop you and Leon off. I need to go."

"What? Wait -" Dave said as he chased after Ian who had already stepped on the gas and sped away.

Ian drove quite a distance to get to Bamboo Room's location on the outskirts of the capital. He knew that by the time he arrived at the restaurant, it's patrons would already have left and he and Ray could discuss matters in private.

When he finally parked his car and stepped out, the whole property was silent. It seemed Ray had sent everyone home early.

Inside, Ian found Ray sitting by the prized table of the Bamboo Room, sipping wine and watching the city from a distance.

"I found Cedric." Ian announced as he approached.

Ray looked at Ian, his eyes wide with shock. Clearly this was not the news Ray expected to hear from Ian today.

"Where?" Ray asked.

"You will be disappointed, with a lot of people." Ian said with a shrug as he took a glass and poured himself some wine.

"Should you be drinking?" Ray asked with a raised eyebrow. "You don't have a driver." 

"I will, when they catch up." Ian said with a grin. He knew that Dave and Leon would chase after him to get Dave's car back.

Ray laughed knowing that Ian had probably pulled an interesting stunt.

"Tell me." Ray ordered.

"I spoke to Cedric today, he's been giving Mae instruction on how to take care of Adrianna." Ian explained with a shrug. "We figured that Mia didn't really have any friends except for Camilla and Leon confirmed it."

"So you saw him today?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, he said he isn't ready to go back, but we are hoping that our words convinced him to come back." Ian said with a shrug.

"So where has he been hiding all this time?" Ray asked Ian, not forgetting his first question.

"At Saints, at the psych ward." Ian said with a shrug.

He heard the glass in Ray's hand shatter, he knew Ray had an even worse temper than him, clearly the other man was even more disappointed.

"Eric." Ray hissed.

"Eric? Not Miguel?" Ian said with an amused laugh. "Wouldn't Miguel and Nicole be more responsible for this?" 

"No." Ray said, shaking his head. "Eric has been directly managing the psych department of Saints Hospital for over a year now."

"Nicole is still not innocent in this." Ian said, shaking his head. "She runs the whole place, since when did Eric take over? Nicole never mentioned anything about it."

"Don't you guys ever talk about work at home?" Ray asked with an amused look on his face.

"Nicole doesn't like discussing too much about work at home. She says we have too much stress there already, might as well just focus on our family while we are at home." Ian said with a shrug.

"Eric wants to have an option after leaving the industry." Ray said as he walked over to fetch another glass of wine. 

"He is retiring?" Ian asked.

"He will, if Katerina finally agrees to marry him." Ray said with an amused laugh.

"But Katerina would never let him quit." Ian said, shaking his head. "Knowing that woman she would never let him put her before his career. I don't understand why he can't keep acting after they get married."

"Because people will find out who he really is if he gets married." Ray said with a laugh.

  "Both their families are powerful enough for them to ignore those rumors." Ian said, shaking his head. "That couple is way too dramatic."

"It's their problem." Ray said with a shrug. "If they needed help they would have spoken up."

"So what will do about the Chans?" Ian asked as he took a sip of wine. 

"I'll talk to them." Ray said with a sigh. "I suggest you talk to Nicole about this first too." 

Ian nodded.

"Do we tell Adrianna?" Ian asked Ray.

"It will make her feel better to know that Cedric is safe and nearby." Ray said with a nod.

"Oh, another thing." Ian said as he looked out into the vast city in front of them. "Adrianna is pregnant, apparently Cedric had Nicole lie to her."

"And he stayed away?" Ray asked with a raised eyebrow. "That was stupid of him."

Ian chuckled.

"Cedric always has his reasons." Ian said, shaking his head.

"This time he is wrong." Ray said with a sigh as he took a sip from his glass. "He shouldn't have done that to Adrianna. I'm sure Ayanna will have his head when he gets back."

"Of the two siblings, sometimes I wonder who is the scarier one." Ian said with a laugh.

"Definitely Ayanna." Ray said, grinning back at his friend.

"Oh? Why?" Ian asked as he gave Ray a puzzled look.

"Because she has Cedric and I in her pocket, we would do anything for that woman." Ray said with a grin.

"Ian!" Dave's voice came as the doors to the Bamboo Room flung open.

"Calm down Dave!" Ray shouted back. "I called him over." Ray grinned at Ian, knowing that the poor boy would not be able to do anything now.

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